11/04/2025
“Yes en inglés, oui oui en francés” - Mi Papá
Ohhhh Paris, such a polarizing city. I kept delaying visiting because I really had a distaste for it. Some of the worst people I’ve ever met were born in Paris, and honestly the whole Francophile superiority complex has always weirded me out. Like why are you so obsessed with a country and culture you’re not a part of? Acting all superior just because you like something European that much of the world likes. I still think it’s weird. Then I learned about Paris syndrome and I was like whatttt the hellyyyy. Combine all that with constantly hearing about how rude parisians are, that pickpocketing is a huge problem, and that it’s super dirty, y dije pues mejor no voy.
So yeah, for the longest time I didn’t wanna go. I kind of just trusted that someday I’d end up there, when the time was right, and finally see what all the hype was about.
And that day finally came durante este recorrido por Europa. Llegué lista para pelearme con todos, la neta. 🤣 Pero fue todo lo contrario!! After chatting with a few people they all said Paris has changed a lot in the last 10 years, thank gawdddd. Plenty of people spoke English or Spanish, y si no, nos dábamos a entender with my broken French and body language. I never felt dismissed. I met so many kind, lighthearted people. I didn’t find it dirty either. Sure it has its dirty parts, but NYC is much dirtier in comparison. I ate my weight in Aligot, smoked my first cigarette ever and felt like an imposter the entire time.
And maybe that’s why I liked it so much, because I didn’t romanticize it. It just is.
I lowkey still wanna push a guy off a scooter though if I see him trying to sn**ch someone’s phone or purse. 👀 one day…
